The Smart Move: Why You Should Use a Tax Accountant for Your Self-Assessment

In the world of personal finance, few things are as certain as taxes. Each year, individuals across the globe prepare to navigate the labyrinth of tax regulations, deductions, and forms required for their self-assessment. While some opt for the DIY approach, a growing number are discovering the numerous benefits of enlisting the expertise of a tax accountant. In this blog post, we'll explore why using a tax accountant for your self-assessment is not just a smart choice but often a financially savvy one.

 1.   Expertise and Knowledge: Tax accountants are professionals who specialize in tax laws and regulations. They stay up-to-date with the latest changes in tax codes and have the experience to navigate complex financial situations. This expertise can help you minimize your tax liability legally.

 2.   Maximize Deductions and Credits: Tax accountants have a keen eye for identifying deductions and credits that you might overlook. Their attention to detail can result in significant savings, ensuring you're not paying more taxes than necessary.

 3.   Reduce Stress and Save Time: Preparing your own taxes can be time-consuming and stressful. It often involves sifting through a mountain of paperwork and deciphering intricate tax jargon. Hiring a tax accountant frees up your time and reduces the stress associated with tax season.

 4.   Avoid Costly Mistakes: Filing taxes incorrectly can lead to penalties and audits. Tax accountants are trained to minimize errors and ensure that your return is accurate, reducing the risk of costly mistakes that can haunt you later.

 5.   Year-Round Assistance: A tax accountant's support isn't limited to just tax season. They can offer financial advice throughout the year, helping you make informed decisions to optimize your tax situation and financial health.

 6.   Audit Protection: If you're audited by tax authorities, having a tax accountant on your side can be invaluable. They can guide you through the audit process and ensure that your rights are protected.

7.    Customized Strategies: Tax accountants can create personalized tax strategies that align with your financial goals. They consider your unique circumstances to help you make the most of available tax benefits.

 8.   Peace of Mind: Perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of hiring a tax accountant is the peace of mind it brings. Knowing that a professional is handling your taxes can alleviate anxiety and allow you to focus on other aspects of your life.

 9.   Cost Savings: Contrary to common belief, hiring a tax accountant can often result in cost savings. The deductions and credits they can uncover, combined with the reduction in errors, can more than offset their fees.

10.    Legal and Ethical Compliance: Tax accountants operate within the bounds of the law and adhere to ethical standards. This ensures that your taxes are filed ethically and legally, eliminating any worries about potential legal repercussions.

In conclusion, the decision to use a tax accountant like Tax Affinity for your self-assessment is an investment in your financial well-being. Their expertise, ability to maximize savings, and dedication to compliance can make the process smoother, more accurate, and less stressful. Ultimately, it's a smart move that can pay dividends in terms of both financial savings and peace of mind. So, this tax season, consider enlisting the help of a tax accountant like Tax Affinity and reap the rewards of a stress-free and financially optimized experience.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are the number rated and recommended Tax Accountants in London. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

Tax Affinity Accountants are rated as experts in Tax and Accounting Industry and because of our experience and expertise with Tax we can help clients to both legally minimise their tax and make the best plans for the future.

We never recommend breaking any rules but instead using our expertise know that there is more than enough scope with the framework to legally reduce taxes and still have the peace of mind. And because we stay abreast with the latest changes and developments we are are always at the forefront of advising clients when things change.

And you know your in safe hand because Tax Affinity are experts in tax law with a good working relationship with HMRC. There to there to help and support clients if they are involved in a HMRC tax or VAT investigation or have a Worldwide Disclosure / Let Property Campaign letter etc to respond to. We are always able to successfully support and guide clients to the best possible outcome. Just ask one of our many happy clients who sing our praises.

Below is a list of just some of the things we can help with. If what your looking for is not listed we most likely are still able to do it but just didnt want to make the list too long.

Give us a call and have a chat with one of our tax experts or come into one of our high street branches - we will be happy to help.

-          Inheritance tax planning for landlords with estates between £1million - £250million
-          Capital gains tax planning
-          Transferring properties into a limited company - Incorporation
-          Offshore tax planning
-          HMRC Tax and VAT Investigations
-          Code of Practice 8 and 9 investigations
-          Alternate Dispute Resolution
-          Tax Tribunals
-          Forensic Accounting
-          Worldwide Disclosure Facility
-          Let Property Campaign
-          HMRC Check of Self Assessment / Tax
-          Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF)
-          Code of Practice 8 / 9 / 11 / 14
-          Section 144 Enquiry
-          Section 12A TMA 1970 Notice Investigations
-          Code of Practice 11 (Local Compliance Offices)
-          Code of Practice 14 Investigation (Company Tax Return Investigations)

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

HMRC has dramatically increased the number of raids on business premises in the last year as part of further criminal investigations into taxpayers.

After receiving extra resources by the UK Government, HMRC have searched over 761 premises, an increase of over 28% on the last year. They are clearly actively looking to secure more prosecutions for tax evasion.

With a search warrant granted by a judge or magistrate HMRC now has the power to raid suspected premises, to try to seize vital evidence to help it secure a prosecution for tax evasion.

And Limited companies are not off the hook either, as there is a HMRC proposal for a new corporate offence to be created, which would hold companies criminally responsible if they do not prevent staff, contractors etc from trying to commit tax evasion. Currently the UK government is reviewing responses to its consultation paper on the draft legislation.

And as a tax evasion investigation can be typically complicated and very time intensive. Due to people often using elaborate ways to cover up their tracks. The best way is for HMRC to have a 'shock and awe tactic' that gets them first hand access to all personal files, emails/texts etc searching an individuals homes or business.

So we recommend all business owners to be aware and to ensure they are complaint at all times with the current rules and regulations avoiding illegal tax avoidance schemes and practises.  

There are plenty of legal ways to use current tax allowances and permitted deductible expenses that an expert Tax Accountant like Tax Affinity Accountants can help you fairly minimise your tax bill. So if you feel you need any advice feel free to contact us and we would be happy to help and guide you as best we can.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

IR35 is the name of piece of 'intermediaries legislation' by HMRC which is designed to establish whether a contractor is considered self employed or employed for tax purposes.

An investigation can be triggered by HMRC either as a random check or when they find a contractor that they suspect of being declared as self employed but actually working in a manner like an employee and therefore paying less tax than normal. They call such a person a 'disguised employee'.

There are certain key signals to HMRC if someone is a 'disguised employee'. And a few of these are listed below:

• A person working through their own limited company with relatively low turnover, is the sole director, has low expenses, pays himself/herself the minimum wage and then has large dividends.
  
• A limited company with a spouse as a shareholder.
  
• Limited Company being used by a freelancer to work
  
• A freelancer who is not spending any money or has any real risk or expense in finding work e.g. office rent or marketing fees.
  
• A freelancer thinking that they are safe behind their limited company tend to have irregularities in their records and accounts and usually inevitably give away their position by their behaviour.
  
• Turnover trends and levels over the course of time.
  
• Trends of gross profit rates over the course of time.
  
• Dividends that seem too low to account for the owners lifestyle, and cash inserted into a company with no clear origin.
  
• Lack of business letterheads and business card etc
  

Contractors therefore need to be aware and compliant to the rules and regulations of working and make sure certain things are in place to ensure safety for both the company they are working for and for themselves.

An experienced quality accountant like Tax Affinity Accountants can help you to be safe and ensure procedures and practices are in place to ensure you are compliant. If you are worried you should contact us as soon as possible.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

HMRC can open an investigation into your tax affairs at anytime, and can request to go back up to 20 years (although it is normally no later than 6 years). When you receive a letter stating HMRC are pending an investigation, it can be a very tense and stressful time even if you have done nothing wrong.

Investigations can occur for a variety of reasons. The most frequent is an obvious mistake that HMRC can see whilst looking through the information you have submitted to them. The mistake can be on any scale of seriousness so should not be taken lightly. If you spot a mistake and tell HMRC about it, they will still have to open an investigation still but it will be less severe and strict. Sometimes, a business selected for an investigation is totally random, HMRC will pick a few businesses in an area, maybe that are tax-fraud hotspots, just to make sure there is no tax evasion going on. HMRC are also the epitome of suspicious. If your sales figure has gone drastically up or down from one year to the next or are hugely different to the industry average, they will look into why this is.

The letter from HMRC will normally have clues on it as to why you are being investigated. It will also detail what direction the investigation will be taking. When you receive this letter, the emphasis is to act fast as if you do not have all the required information ready and at hand when the investigation starts, you will be seen as unorganised.

HMRC have the ability to request information from third-parties such as banks and other businesses. This is the extreme as normally they will look for co-operation, from the person being investigated, which will not only speed the whole process, but reduce any fines or penalties incurred. This can be just allowing them access to your files or it could be letting them interview you for a day. If you have made clear and obvious mistakes but do not allow HMRC access to your documents, the fine can be doubled, making it much worse for you.

The effect of not co-operating on your business is as follows:

1. The cost of the fine; which has no limit.
2. The cost of lost business and income whilst the investigation is going on. You could even be called for a police-style interview for a few days.
3. The bad publicity of tax evasion being hung over your business. This could lose potential and current suppliers or clients.
4. You will find it harder to get loans or funding from external sources. This is seen as deliberate avoidance of payment which is not the type of business they want to give a loan to. If you struggle to pay the fine, it can affect your credit rating too.

The general trend is that it is at this stage people will go and ask for professional help. The best people to see are tax accountants such as Tax Affinity Accountants who can help in various ways with the investigation. Some are below:

• Prepare you for the situation likely to be faced. Tax Accountants have gone through this process before and have seen clients both be let off and be found culpable. Tax Accountants are able to give advice on what type of thing you should say, how the investigation will pan out and what will happen if you get called for an interview. If this happens, you can be “warmed up” with some questions that HMRC will ask you and warned of the potentially probing questions they could ask to try and get what they want to hear from you.
• Collating information relevant to the investigation and ensuring only relevant information is provided to HMRC. This is where it is better to be using a Tax Accountancy firm already for your returns and accounts as they can provide you with all the information related to your investigation. Some people try to take everything they have (including receipts from shops and payslips) to investigations which are simply not needed. If you take everything, it can often dilute your argument as you are trying to argue over small details and take a long time trying to find the document in question.
• Dealing with any request by HMRC for further information. Sometimes HMRC will require more information for their investigation. However, sometimes this is a trick to try and get you to admit to what you did wrong or what you are covering up. A Tax Accountant will be able to distinguish between what is a genuine request and what is a ploy. They will also be able to provide a rapid turnaround for any information required by HMRC as all terms and requests will be understood rather than potentially misinterpreted by someone on their own making the situation look more suspicious or that they are not co-operating.
• Keeping the investigation to the point. Similar to the above, sometimes HMRC will see if there are any leads to other investigations they could do during this time. They might try to test other things which might not be picked up on by a person doing it alone. A Tax Accountant will make sure HMRC are only investigating what they said in their initial investigation letter.
• Negotiations with HMRC regarding penalties and potential interest. A Tax Accountant is in a better position to try and negotiate with HMRC over any penalty or fine imposed. People trying this on their own often get confused by the complicated HMRC phone system so end up at the wrong person.
• Creating a mutually beneficial pay arrangement between the parties. If a fine is levied against the business, if it is too large to pay at once, or if the business has a poor cash flow position at that date, a Tax Accountant can act as a third-party to try and create a suitable payment plan. This can often avoid the interest charges that HMRC try adding to the fine.

Even when the investigation has finished, there is no guarantee that you will not be investigated again. If you were randomly investigated one year and then the next year your profit figure increased dramatically, you could well actually be at risk of being investigated again. HMRC will not take to kindly either if you have already been found to be responsible in a previous investigation and then continue to make mistakes in subsequent years.

This blog might seem all doom and gloom but regulations are in place for the amount of tax that should be paid by either businesses or individuals. HMRC just apply this regulation as it would be unfair for some people to get away with not paying enough tax. If you have done nothing wrong, or even make an innocent mistake, HMRC will not be aggressive or disruptive. If you co-operative with them, they will ensure the investigation is as pain free for you as possible.

A Tax Accountant’s expertise and experience will help you greatly both financially and emotionally. As the fees that you may have to pay will be far outweighed by the amount of tax saved in direct negotiations with HMRC.

They know what the situation is and what the next move by HMRC will probably be. This means that anything unusual going on by HMRC will be noticed and prevents you from submitting too much information or making the investigation drag on longer than it should. The key is to co-operate with both your Tax Accountant and HMRC so the investigation is over quickly and as

Actor Stephen Baldwin will avoid prison and have up to five years to pay back a tax bill of around $350,000 (£235,000), according to his legal representative.

Lawyer Russell Yankwitt explained the deal after a private conference with prosecutors and a judge in New York.

The youngest of the acting Baldwin brothers is accused of not paying state income taxes between 2008 and 2010.

Mr Yankwitt said that under a tentative agreement, Baldwin will plead guilty to tax charges later this month.

He added that if Baldwin pays the money within a year, his record will be wiped clean.

If not, he will be sentenced to probation and given five years to pay back the cash.

Prosecutor Anthony Dellicarri confirmed that a tentative agreement had been reached on a plea deal but would not detail the specifics. 

Asked how Baldwin would pay back the money, Mr Yankwitt replied: "He's doing commercials, he's acting, he's out in the public."

Baldwin has been heard on New York radio in recent days, in a commercial for a teeth-whitening system.

"The economy is not what it was, and Mr. Baldwin is a faith-based actor, which makes it harder to get roles," said ​Mr Yankwitt, describing Baldwin as a born-again Christian.

"In the past, he did movies that portrayed violence and drugs. He no longer does those types of movies."

Baldwin's brother Alec was a star of TV's "30 Rock," and brothers William and Daniel also are actors.

When Mr Yankwitt was asked if they were helping Stephen, he said only: "Mr. Baldwin is thankful for the love and support of his family."

He claimed that Baldwin got into trouble because he "relied on others," including an accountant and a lawyer".

He added: "He never intended to defraud the government. The government understands that."

The 46-year-old was one of the stars of the critically-acclaimed 1995 hit The Usual Suspects, but later films in which he starred were less successful.

More recently, Baldwin has appeared in reality TV shows, including Celebrity Big Brother in 2010 and the US versions of I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! and Celebrity Apprentice.

He filed for bankruptcy in July 2009, claiming he had debts of around $2.3m (£1.5m), while his New York property was worth only $1.1m (£0.7m).

Tax Affinity Accountants news. To read more visit our blog. Tax Affinity Accountants are expert in tax and accountancy in Kingston upon Thames.

We often get asked when is the best and worst time to call HMRC? And because at Tax Affinity Accountants, we already know this, we are happy to advise them.

The telephone help lines at HMRC have historically always had long waiting times. With thousands of callers who wait a long time simply giving up even though they have needed important help to get things right.

'The early bird catches the worm'

Its simple the best time to call HMRC is when everyone else is not calling. And this mean's doing it early in the morning between 8am and 10am Monday to Friday.

The worst time is towards the end of the day between 4pm and 8pm, when everyone is calling them.

Calling HMRC at the wrong time can cause a lot of stress and frustation. Plus imagine you ask one of your employees to do this at the wrong time and he/she does nothing for 45 minutes but hold the telephone. This a huge waste of wages and efficiency.

Worse still HMRC also use an automated recorded message to try to turn away callers at peak times by telling them to check HMRC's online system and resources or a “Sorry there is no one available to take your call, please try later”. message.

So plan ahead and try to call them early in the morning and if you must ask an important question just hold on in there until someone picks up and hope they give you the advice without referring you to another department!

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

Still wondering about what the key things to come out of the Chancellor's budget were for you and your business? - Well read on...

Income tax

The threshold at which people start paying income tax is to be raised to £10,000 in 2014 - a year early - an increase in the threshold of £560.

State of the nation

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast growth of 0.6% this year, half of what it said it would be in December. But the OBR predicts the UK will escape recession this year.

After that, growth is predicted to be 1.8% in 2014; 2.3% in 2015; 2.7% in 2016 and 2.8% in 2017.

Home-hunters

Home buyers wishing to buy a new home worth less than £600,000 are to be given assistance. As long as they have a 5% deposit, the government will stump up an extra 20% - repayable when the house is sold.

Help for business

Chancellor George Osborne announced that corporation tax will be cut by 1% to 20% in April 2015. 

This, Osborne said, will make the UK's corporation tax the lowest of any major economy in the world. The UK, he added, is "open for business".

Elsewhere, the Chancellor said some 450,000 small firms will pay no employer National Insurance.

Osborne also said stamp duty on AIM shares will be abolished from next April, in a move which he said will benefit hundreds of small business in the UK.

The government will give capital gains tax (CGT) relief on sales of businesses to their employees.

Youngsters

The government confirmed it will consult on options for transferring savings held in child trust funds (CTFs) into Junior ISAs.

The move will offer a lifeline to six million children.

Junior ISAs were introduced in November 2011 as an attempt to encourage saving for children, following on from the abolition of CTFs at the beginning of that year.

Tax avoidance

The Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are to enter tax information exchanges with the UK that will significantly increase the amount of information automatically exchanged on potentially taxable income, in order to identify and tackle evasion. The move aims to recoup £3bn in unpaid taxes.

Additionally, the government will remove the presumption of self-
employment for limited liability partnership (LLP) partners, to tackle the disguising of employment relationships through LLPs and counter the artificial allocation of profits to partners (in both LLPs and other partnerships) to achieve a tax advantage.

The measures, the government forecasts, will in total raise over £4.6bn in new revenue over the next five years.

Pensioners

As previously announced, the single flat-rate pension of £144 a week is to be brought forward a year to 2016. This will end contracting out of the State Second Pension, so that everyone will pay the same rate of national insurance contributions and build up access to the same single-tier State Pension

Cap on social care costs confirmed at £72,000.

The government has also pledged to make £5,000 ex-gratia payments to Equitable Life policyholders who were too old to be eligible for compensation payouts. The government is not obliged to do it, Osborne pointedly said, but it is "the right thing to do".

Borrowing

Borrowing will be £114bn this year and is set to fall to £108bn, £97bn and £87bn in following years. The deficit has been cut by a third since May 2010.

Borrowing as share of GDP is to fall from 7.4% in 2013-14 to 5% in 2015-16.

Debt as a share of GDP will increase from 75.9% in 2012-13 to 85.1% in 2015-16.

Inflation

The 2% Bank of England target is to stay in place, the Chancellor said, though its remit is to be changed to focus on growth as well as inflation.

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy in the borough of Kingston upon Thames. Please feel free to comment or share this article with your friends. For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. And follow us on twitter to find more tax saving tips @tax_affinity

A upcoming change in the housing benefit rules has been dubbed the "bedroom tax", officially though, it is not a tax, but a benefit cut.

Government ministers argue the changes will help cut the £23bn annual bill for housing benefit, free up more living space for overcrowded families, and encourage people to get jobs.

But some housing charities are warning that the result will be higher levels of rent arrears, and greater homelessness.

From the governments own estimates, over half a million tenants will be affected when the new rules take effect in April this year. It says the savings to the taxpayer will amount to £505m in 2012-13, and £540m in the year after.

What is going to chang?

The rules will affect housing benefit, which is paid to less well-off tenants to help with rent. Typically claimants receive between £50 and £100 a week.

From April 2013 families deemed to have too much living space by their local authorities will receive a reduced payment. Under the government's so-called "size criteria", families will be assessed for the number of bedrooms they actually need.

Who can be affected?

Changes affects council tenants, and those who rent from housing associations. It does not affect private sector tenants.

Government estimates show that 660,000 households will have their benefit cut, roughly a third of social sector claimants. Only those of working age will see reduced payments.

How much may people lose?

If a tenant is deemed to have one spare room, they will lose 14% of their benefit. If they have two or more spare rooms, they will lose 25%.

Government ministers says that will mean an average loss of about £14 a week for council tenants. Those who rent from housing associations are facing an average loss of about £16 a week.

So how many bedrooms are you allowed?

The rules allow one bedroom for each adult or couple. Children under the age of 16 are expected to share, if they are the same gender. Those under 10 are expected to share whatever their gender.

But disabled tenants will be allowed a bedroom for full-time carers. The number of bedrooms in the property will be determined by the landlord's tenancy agreement, so you cannot claim a bedroom is actually a living room.

So Can you keep a spare bedroom?

Sorry No, and especially not without losing benefit. Parents who are separated are not allowed to keep a vacant bedroom for a child who visits. Foster children are not counted as permanent members of a household.

And what about students?

From April 2013, parents will not be penalised if a student is away, as long as he or she sleeps at home for at least two weeks a year. But when universal credit comes in from this autumn, students will need to be at home for at least six months to avoid a benefit cut.

And what about lodgers?

From April 2013, claimants with a paying lodger will be allowed to keep the first £20 of weekly rent. But housing benefit will be then be cut, pound for pound, on the rest of the rent they receive.

But, after universal credit is established, housing benefit will be cut, but tenants will be allowed to keep all the rental income (although only the first £4,250 of annual rent is free of income tax).

And are pensioners exempt?

Again from April, if either half of a couple are of pensionable age, they will not suffer reductions to housing benefit.

Under universal credit, both will need to be over pensionable age, or one will need to be in receipt of pension credit, in order to qualify for the maximum benefit.

Tax Affinity Accountants are HMRC Authorised agents, who are experts in tax planning in Surbiton, Kingston upon Thames. Visit www.taxaffinity.com for more information.

Leaving a tax return to the last minute means you are more likely to do it in a hurry. There are still six million people in Britain who have not yet filed their self-assessment tax form, HM Revenue & Customs said this week – and time is running out ahead of the 31 January deadline.

Leaving it to the last minute means you are more likely to do it in a hurry and therefore more likely to make careless errors.

Filing online is a good way of avoiding mistakes because calculations are done automatically and there is on-screen help if you need it. But it is still easy to trip up, due to carelessness, not being organised enough, or lack of knowledge. Here are the five most common errors:

• Don't leave things out. "Probably the most common mistake of all is the omission of a source of income, typically the interest arising from a bank or building society account, which in some cases can be quite substantial," says Giddens. So before you start, gather together the documents relating to all your savings accounts and investments – statements, passbooks etc.

You have to include the interest you receive on bank, building society and other savings accounts, and on any loans to individuals or organisations, including those made via "peer-to-peer" lending websites such as Zopa.

You must also include interest received from credit union and friendly society accounts. And if you have enjoyed a payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation payout, any interest included in the payment must be declared, too. You don't have to declare interest from Isas.

You must also include dividends from UK companies and unit trusts, open-ended investment companies and investment trusts.

• Don't get your numbers in a twist. Another common error is, including the gross amount of interest instead of the net amount after tax that is being asked for.

For example, with box 1 on page TR 3, relating to taxed UK interest, you need to put in the net amount – the interest etc after tax was taken off. Some account statements will explicitly give this figure; others just show gross interest and tax taken off.

• Is your tax code wrong? Now's the time to check. Thousands of taxpayers may well be paying too much (or too little) tax as a result of having the wrong tax code.

In some cases people have received refunds running into thousands of pounds after belatedly spotting that they have been paying too much for years.

Your tax code can usually be found on your payslip – it's typically three digits followed by an L, such as "744L", and it tells your employer how much to deduct from your pay packet.

If your employer provides you with company benefits, such as medical insurance or a car, you will probably have to pay tax on them.

Last year, analysis has found that a quarter of all taxpayers may be paying the wrong amount of tax due to incorrect codes, and added that pensioners appear to be particularly vulnerable to problems.

To check you're on the right tax code, try moneysavingexpert.com's online code checker.

• Don't forget gift aid. You can tell the taxman about donations by filling in the section "gift aid payments". Gift aid boosts the value of donations by allowing charities to reclaim basic rate tax on your gift: £10 using gift aid is worth £12.50 to the charity.

If you pay higher-rate tax, you can claim extra relief on your donations, says Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). For example, if you donated £100 using gift aid, the total value of your donation to the charity was £125 – so you can claim back £25 if you pay tax at 40%, or £37.50 if you pay tax at 50%.

When you're asked about gift aid payments made in the year to 5 April 2012, enter the actual amounts given – don't add on any tax relief that you think the charity will obtain.

• Don't forget to pay what you owe! As well as pressing the button to send your form, you must pay what you owe by 31 January – this applies whether you filed a paper or online return.

So in conclusion most self employed people are so busy working that they just don't have the time needed to make sure that they are getting all the tax relief that they are entitled to. Many pay the wrong amount of tax and many more are late with their submission or payment. That's why its always better to consult a qualified accountant like Tax Affinity Accountants who can save you a lot of stress, time and money in the long run.

Tax Affinity Accountants provide Tax Return services and throughout the UK, and are based in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.